El-Katatni of the Muslim Brotherhood greets other members of parliament in Cairo (Photo: Reuters)

On 27 January 2011, Mohamed Saad El-Katatni and tens of other Muslim Brotherhood leaders were arrested as the government of Hosni Mubarak sought to repress the growing popular uprising.

Nearly a year later, it is fair to say that the Brotherhood has turned the tables on the toppled regime, with El-Katatni overwhelmingly elected as the new parliamentary speaker, while former president Mubarak faces charges in court.

Last January’s mass arrest of Brotherhood figures was not instigated through clear legal avenues or formal charges issued by the prosecutor general.

Rather, it was widely seen as an impulsive attempt by the Mubarak administration to pile pressure on the Brotherhood, to dissuade them from being in the streets during the January 25 revolution.

Such a move, needless to say, did not pay off, as with other oppressive measures applied by Mubarak’s government, eventually overthrown on 11 February last year.

Brotherhood and Mubarak’s regime switch roles

As the 18-day revolt intensified and prison gates were mysteriously opened, El-Katatni along with hundreds of inmates were freed, days before Mubarak and his oligarchy were brought down.

The aftermath of the revolution saw the Brotherhood realise their long-held dream by establishing a political party, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), which gives the group the solid political representation Islamists did not have under Mubarak.

Before the revolution, Brotherhood members and other Islamists used to run for parliamentary elections as independent candidates and not through political parties. They were unable to form political parties due to restrictive conditions imposed by the former regime, in addition to the prohibition of parties with religious frames of reference.

Several leading Brotherhood figures served prison sentences in Mubarak’s Egypt.

Since February, it is Mubarak and many of his oligarchs who have been in court. The 83-year-old former president faces charges of corruption and suspected involvement in the killing of peaceful protesters during the uprising.

Some of former associates of Mubarak are already in jail, such as former interior minister Habib El-Adly who was found guilty of corruption and is currently serving a 17-year prison sentence.

Although several observers have noted limitations to the Mubarak trial in terms of leniency shown towards the defendants, the fact remains that many Egyptians would never have imagined such a trial taking place.

Those who imprisoned the Brotherhood and other opposition figures are now in court or prison, while the Brotherhood dominates the new People’s Assembly.

After the establishment of the FJP, El-Katatni, who a year ago was incarcerated in Wadi El-Natroun prison, was appointed as the party’s secretary general.

The FJP recently emerged as the biggest winner of the parliamentary elections and now comprises 47 per cent of the People’s Assembly.

El-Katatni officially announced his nomination for the position of the People’s Assembly speaker in the opening session on Monday, and was elected after amassing 399 votes out of 508 in a ballot held shortly afterwards.

He opened the People’s Assembly session the following day.

Mini Factbox

El-Katatni was born in the Upper Egyptian governorate Sohag on 4 March 1952. He is a microbiologist and worked as a professor at the Science Faculty of Minya University from 1994 to 1998. He also conducted Islamic studies

The 59-year-old first joined the Brotherhood in 1981 and was elected to the Guidance Bureau in 2008.

El-Katatni represented the Brotherhood in parliament from 2005 until 2010.

From 1990-2006 El-Katatni served as secretary general of the Minya University’s Teaching Committee.

Ahram Online welcomes readers' comments on all issues covered by the site, along with any criticisms and/or corrections. Readers are asked to limit their feedback to a maximum of 1000 characters (roughly 50 words). All comments/criticisms will, however, be subject to the following code

We will not publish comments which contain rude or abusive language, libelous statements,
slander and personal attacks against any person/s.

We will not publish comments which contain racist remarks or any kind of racial
or religious incitement against any group of people, in Egypt or outside it.

We welcome criticism of our reports and articles but we will not publish personal
attacks, slander or fabrications directed against our reporters and contributing
writers.

We reserve the right to correct, when at all possible, obvious errors in spelling
and grammar. However, due to time and staffing constraints such corrections will
not be made across the board or on a regular basis.

Please Wait

2

Sayeed Rumi

25-01-2012 01:44pm

1-

0+

Go ahead

We out side of Egypt also eagerly waiting to see thier ever success as they are landslide victory,I think people of Egypt also give time to the brother hood gov to do something better.Cause long wastage remove longtime.But gov should do their best & show the best to people

Email

Name

Comment's Title

Comment

Please Wait

1

shahid iqbal

24-01-2012 08:54pm

1-

2+

mixed emotions

i have got no words to describe how happy i am to see him getting to this place but then i do fear he might not be able to fulfil people's expactation and that will be a bigger loss for me and all those people who considered party as a light at the end of the tunnel.
i wish them all the best. And o allaha make things easier and not difficult for us